Japonica is a casual fashion and interior brand made from silk.Japonica presents its mind from Nagano city to the world.
Story of thread passed down in Nagano
My grandmother told me many stories about the Nagano landscape and about thread. Back then, mulberry fields stretched as far as the eye could see, with the landscape crossed here and there by flowing streams and water mills. Most farming families in Nagano raised silkworms on those mulberry leaves, shipping off huge numbers of the cocoons several times a year. In those days, many women worked in the filature factories, spinning silk from the cocoons. It was certainly the age of silk, with raw silk born in Nagano being shipped around the world for weaving into various silk products. Silk ? a miraculous material adored by all, and a long, long thread playing out its own drama.
Without knowing, something important is lost
There are many tales to be told of even a single thread. Raised in Nagano and knowing what I knew, I felt extremely uncomfortable over recent years, seeing cheap mass produced clothes piled high and treated carelessly. Clothes that are manufactured too cheaply are bought without too much thought, so people easily tire of them and throw them away. Surely, we have forgotten something important.
I really love silk
That is why, when I began creating my clothes, that I set my mind on making clothes that would be worn with care. The material of course is silk. Being supple and light, silk is an excellent material for conforming to the shape of the body. I wanted to revive the silk industry in Nagano. So what could I achieve, when Japan was importing lots of cheap silk products from overseas?
The answer I found was to move away from the previous high-end, traditional way of thinking and do an about-face on the difficult-to-handle silk, rebirthing it as a natural and casual clothing material. For that reason, we actively adopted state-of-the-art technologies and added function and design that comes to life in everyday use.
Washable silk
If you want clothes you can wear when you want to wear them, then washability is essential. Having to dry clean clothes every time they are worn is not economical, so we do not make clothes that you might hesitate to wear. When you want to wear something, you do not want to think about dirt or stains, so we apply an advanced water-repellent coating to our fabrics, using state-of-the-art technologies. Now you can even wear a white dress to those parties with lots of people.
Made with care to be your favorite clothes
By nature, silk is the ultimate material for refreshing and relaxing yourself. The Japonica brand was made to maximize the superiority and beauty of silk as a material, and to create a line of relaxing resort wear. Utilizing the latest technologies, we have created a hybrid silk from eco-friendly raw materials, like polylactic acid fiber made from corn. This hybrid silk makes a range of variations possible.
Finding your new self
From a single cocoon, we can spin about 1,200 meters of silk thread. The threads are then gathered together to produce silk yarn. From mulberry cultivation to silkworms, cocoons, spinning and textiles, this miraculous material is created through a cooperation between man and nature. Now newly reborn in the Japonica brand with the help of science and technology, this material wraps us up in its gentle and beautiful embrace. Once there you will return to nature, where you will certainly discover your new self.
